"We will outline the most impactful tactics for optimising working capital and maximising discounts and we will review various sources of liquidity available to suppliers and buyers," says Christo Jacobs, director of Intellection, a silver partner at the Finance Indaba Africa 2016 on 13 and 14 October 2016 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg.

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In the coming weeks and months, we will be chatting to all the Indaba partners, asking them why they are joining the event and what their most important message for finance professionals is.

Do you want to hear why Intellection are the leaders in Procure to Pay process improvement? Do you want to be informed about the latest and greatest in finance? Then don't miss the Finance Indaba Africa 2016. Why will you be present at the Finance Indaba?"Procure 2 Pay Intellection are the leaders in both retrospective and proactive Procure to Pay process improvement. The Finance Indaba will be a great opportunity for us to showcase our value proposition, while networking with the finance leaders of South Africa."What will you be talking about?"The evolution of P2P maturity and Working Capital Optimisation: Neanderthal or Modern Man?

"Do you understand your organisations level of P2P maturity? What are the current trends in supply chain and P2P management? The shifting economic climate and massive regulatory changes over the past 10 years have created a new financial business environment for small and medium-sized businesses.

"In this climate, expensive, alternate lending sources, such as factoring, have been unable to fill the void. In this session, we will dissect how smart companies are optimising their working capital, based on a variety of economic variables, including interest rates, market uncertainty and early payment initiatives. We will outline the most impactful tactics for optimising working capital and maximising discounts and we will review various sources of liquidity available to suppliers and buyers." What are the challenges you can help finance professionals/firms with in 2016?"Visibility of performance against a pool of relevant KPI’s and metrics form the basis of our approach to optimise an organisation's procure-to-pay ("P2P") process, impacting both the bottom line and the efficiency of the process as a whole. While there are various challenges that we address, three areas summarise our perspective:

• Improve cash and minimise P2P risk with lost profit recovery by following a systematic process of reviewing payment transactions and related supporting data to identify and recover various forms of payment errors. These projects deliver ROI in excess of 100%. • Reduce costs, improve efficiency and improve financial controls by simplifying and automating the Accounts Payable process• Strengthen supplier relationships and uncover the value within your financial supply chain through supplier finance (Turn every invoice into a revenue opportunity, using your cash or third-party cash to fund early payments)."What has been key to building long-term, mutual beneficial relationships with your customers?"First and foremost, we have one focus: delivering value with a long-term objective of providing the best service in our industry. We tailor our solutions and services to ensure that our customer’s business requirements are met in an efficient, secure and timely manner, with our customer data and information being treated with the highest degree of confidentiality."What is Dynamic Discounting?"Dynamic Discounting is used by buyers primarily for the financial return it provides. With Dynamic Discounting, buyers can automate the discounting process and ensure that discounts can always be captured between invoice approval and due date - achieving returns higher than with Money Market Accounts (MMA) and Treasury Bonds (T-Bonds). Companies use dynamic discounting as a strategic initiative in their Accounts Payable and Procurement departments, as well as an investment opportunity for Treasury.

"Dynamic Discounting programs can be funded by the buyer (using own balance sheet) or by making use of third party funders. Using third party funding positively impacts DPO (Days Payable Outstanding) and CCC (Cash Conversion Cycle)

"While theoretically possible to utilise Dynamic Discounting without software automating the process, in practice, Dynamic Discounting requires a portal interface between the buyer and supplier. Without a portal, scaling beyond just a few suppliers would not be feasible. Automating Accounts Payable and using an eInvoicing and supplier self-service portal ensures faster, more efficient processes and therefore higher discount capture.

"I will explain the Dynamic Discounting process using a simple example of a R100 product being purchased from the supplier with supplier payment terms of 30 days from invoice.• The purchasing process remains unchanged. The buyer sends a purchase order for R100 to the supplier.• After producing and shipping the product, the supplier invoices the buyer for R100.• Once the invoice is approved by the buyer, the portal notifies the supplier that their R100 invoice is available to be paid early.• The supplier logs into the portal, chooses to be paid early and decides which date they would like to be paid. The supplier can choose any date between the approval date and the net due date (30 days in this example). The system automatically calculates the discount percentage based on the APR. (Annual Percentage Return) the customer set for the specific supplier. For example, if the APR is 18%, and the supplier wants to be paid 10 days earlier than the original net due date (30 days in this example), the discount would be 0.5% (An 18% APR divided by 360 days is 0.05% per day, times 10 days acceleration is a 0.5% discount).• On day 20, the buyer pays the supplier R99.50."